Door for mail-wagons.



No. 700,863. Patented May 27, I902.

W. H. WANSBRDUGH. DOOR FOR MAIL WAGONS (Application flledsspt. 20, 1901,)

I (No Model.)

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UNITED STATES -PATENT ()FFICE.

WILLIAM H. \VANSBROUGH, OF SOUTH BEND, INDIANA.

DOOR FOR MAlL-WAGONS.

SPECIFICATION forming part of LettersPatent N0. '70 O,863, dated May 27, 1902.

Application filed September 20, 1901. Serial No. 75,921. (N0 E BL T0 (1/66 whom it may concern; Be it known that 1, WILLIAM H. WANS BROUGH, a citizen of the United States, residing at South Bend, in the county of St. Joseph and State of Indiana, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Doors for Mail-Wagons; and I do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same.

My invention relates to an improvement in doors for mail-wagons of the class in which mail is collected from or delivered to the mailboxes; and its object is to provide the door with an opening which is normally closed by a supplemental or sub door hinged within the opening to permit the carrier to reach the mail-box without opening the main door during cold or inclement weather, and thus obviating the necessity of dismounting from the vehicle as well as excluding to the minutest degree the ingress of cold air, snow, or rain during the winter months or in a storm. I

With these ends in view the invention consists of a door having aportion cut out to form a small opening in which a supplemental door is normally held closed by a spring-hinge, the opening being of sufiicient size to allow the carrier to conveniently reach therethrough to gain access to the mailbox when the mailwagon has been driven beside the same; and the invention further consists of the novel construction and arrangement of parts, as will be hereinafter more fully described and claimed.

For a full understanding of the meritsand advantages of my invention reference is to be had to the accompanying drawings,in which Figure 1 is a perspective view of the body of a mail-wagon, showing my improved door applied thereto. Fig. 2 is a plan view of the door with the supplemental door closed. Fig. 8 is a perspective View of the door with the supplemental door open.

Like numerals of reference indicate corresponding parts throughout the several views of the drawings.

of and between the upper and lower panels.

In this opening is hinged a vertically-swinging supplemental door 6, which is normally held closed by a spring-hinge 7, secured to the lower edges of the opening and the supplemental door, so that the door when opened will form a shelf or extension beyond the lower edge of'the opening within the vehiclebody, and by hinging it at the bottom the liabilityiof the supplemental door closing, as it would if it were hinged atthe top, is obviated, since it will not close by gravity, and the carrier can more conveniently hold it open by leaning against it while he is collecting the mail from the mail-box.

In hot or fair weather the supplemental door 6 may be held open at right angles to the door proper by any suitable means, as shown in Fig. 3, to provide a permanent shelf or support for the mail-matter as'the door opens within the vehicle. When, however, the supplemental door is not used, it may be locked closed on the inside by the turning buttons 8 8, pivoted to the door near the edge of the opening, as shown in Fig. 2. It will be seen that by this arrangement the carrier is enabled to gain access to the mail-box without opening the door proper and without dis-' mounting from the vehicle, as the opening 5 is of sufficient size to permit him to reach therethrough to the mail-box, and as the door closes automatically the ingress of cold air or rain is reduced to a minimum.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is v 1. In a mail-wagon, the combination with the door or doors having an opening formed therein, of a vertically-swinging door hinged at its bottom to the edge of said opening by a spring-hinge to normally hold the snpplernen- I held at right angles to the door to provide a 10 tal door closed, and means to lock the supple- I shelf Within the mail-wagon, substantially as mental door, substantially as specified. described. 7

2. In a mail-wagon, the combination with In testimony whereof I affix my signature the door or doors having an opening formed in presence of two witnesses. therein, of a vertically swinging snbdoor WILLIAM H. WANSBROUGH. hinged to the edge of the opening in the door lVitnesses: proper, a spring-hinge to normally hold the GEORGE OLTsOH, subdoor closed, said subdoor arranged to be I E. C. BERGER. 

